Opinion: If Waterford Airport seems confusing, its probably because it's supposed to be

In the aftermath of the July 2 airport meeting, Waterford’s Government TDs rushed to assure constituents that the process of extending the airport’s runway is taking shape.

Fine Gael Minister for State for Local Government and Planning John Cummins told the Waterford News and Star that compiling the necessary information was already in the works.

Fianna Fáil’s Chief Whip Minister Mary Butler told WLR that they now know what information the Department of Transport are looking for.

It’s in hand, they said.

Many of you scoffed at the idea of a shape taking form, but as you can see this week, from a series of Parliamentary Questions submitted by Waterford Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane, a circle is emerging.

Don’t you feel silly.

In the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien’s response to those PQs, we learned that an initial appraisal of the airport’s “Project Outline Document” (or whatever you want to call it) has been completed and clarifications sought.

The Minister also provided an outline of what happened over the past year and a bit, and we learned that this is where the project was at in February 2024.

At that time, the “Project Outline Document” was being called “Waterford Airport’s Development Proposal.” 

Or business case, in short, if not reality, because developing that is supposedly the current goal of all of these clarifications.

We also know that in all the faffing around, the cost of extending the runway has gone from €12 million to €27 million.

Now, the government is not being asked to pay all of that, but the taxpayer is being asked to foot a bill considerably higher in 2025 than it was when the project was first proposed in 2018.

Value for money indeed.

Meanwhile, this week Waterford’s Sinn Féin TDs staged a protest on John Robert’s Square.

Around 80 people (plus seven Waterford Says No protesters) showed up.

The protest was contentious online in its lead-up, with former Waterford TD Matt Shanahan calling out Sinn Féin for not doing enough.

He wanted them to force a debate in the Dáil-because the last one went so well (Google Waterford Airport pig-in-a poke for more information).

The Sinn Féin TDs told the Waterford News and Star say they are doing their bit, and anyone else who wants to help is more than welcome to organise their own events.

Nobody was really sure on Friday evening what Waterford Says No was doing, but it appeared to be something about gender and snakes.

If we had to sum it all up and inject some positivity, I suppose you could say with every effort made, we chip away at the issue.

Every PQ and Dáil debate, to be fair, yields more information.

How valuable that information is, is up to you.

But if you are confused at this point, it’s probably because you are supposed to be.